


How's it Ben?

by Idelumin



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Character Study, One Shot, because he's so underdeveloped in the show
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-02-20
Packaged: 2019-10-31 22:03:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17857778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Idelumin/pseuds/Idelumin
Summary: Character study/one-shot shorts of Ben's scenes from the show because I wanted more from him





	How's it Ben?

_Voices_  
The creatures whispered to him in his sleep. They told him of his immense power and potential: That if he wanted to, he could bring down the entire world. After every mission, their voices would be amplified with satisfaction oozing from every whispered word. _That's it Ben. Use our powers. Don’t hold back._

Ben had brought this up to his father once who had listened on with a mask of indifference and slight hint of curiosity. He told Ben that he was on the right track, that he was chosen by the gods to hold his power, and with this approval, Ben would be able to save the world from the apocalypse. It was all utter bs though. His father had never experienced the allure of the otherworld, never felt the urge to turn inside himself and escape this reality. He never heard the otherworld on a bad day when their screams would prevent him from thinking and all he could do was tear at his hair and cry himself to oblivion until it was all over. His father didn't know that Ben's connections with the gods was a blessing. In fact, it often felt like a curse.

The others never understood his reluctance to use his powers. They were too wrapped up in themselves to see how their powers were a curse. Humans weren't supposed to have these powers. Humans weren't supposed to have his power. The power to bridge the gap between their world and the otherworld was too much for one person, let alone a single boy.

Although, out of all of his six siblings, he held a closer relationship with Klaus the most. Despite his aloofness, Klaus would be the one to seek Ben out after a rough mission and make sure he didn't give into the voices in his head. Klaus would hold him close and whisper nonsense into his ear until those words were all that he could hear. If anything, he could consider Klaus a true brother.

 _Death_  
For a second he had thought he had given into the otherworld. The quietness of the void frightened him as he frantically tried to search for a light in the murky blackness. Ben couldn't move nor shout, although that didn't stop him from screaming out for his family. It felt like he had been floating there for ages until his world was engulfed in a bright light. Shielding his eyes, he felt the ground underneath him solidify as all of his senses came back to him.

"Ben!" a familiar voice shouted as Ben felt the air around him move.  


"Klaus?" Ben asked as Klaus' arms passed through him. Klaus' clothing was unkempt and his hair was ruffled up. He looked like he hadn't slept in days. "What's going on?"  


"What's going on?" Klaus choked out a watery laugh, "Ben, you're dead."

Ben looked down at himself as he saw that his entire body was engulfed in a blue-ish hue. He slowly reached out his hand to put on Klaus' shoulder. It fell through. Ben tried again with his other hand. It fell through. Taking in a shaky breath, Ben closed his eyes and attempted to access the otherworld through his powers. The screeching of the gods flooded his head as they screamed at him for dying so soon. Ben dropped to the ground as he clapped his hands over his ears and tried to shut out their words. They were even worse in the afterlife. Klaus stared at Ben with tears falling down his face as he tried to reach out to comfort Ben but to no avail. He settled for dropping down and trying to hold his arms around Ben as if hoping that this gesture would reach him and resigned himself to a long night.

 _Trapped_  
Ben was conflicted. He had just witnessed Klaus get brutally tortured by two assassins as they tried to find the location of Five. Now, he was trapped in a closet with Klaus where the two people had stuffed him in. For all given reasons, he should've felt sorry for Klaus, but he didn't. Where sorrow should've been, rage filled him. Ben felt angry that Klaus had given into Cha Cha and Hazel so easily after seeing his precious drugs get crushed in front of him. He was angry that Klaus had been so strong for the past day only to fall to his addiction. He was angry that Klaus had given up his entire life and spent it wasting away under the influence of ecstasy or marijuana. Klaus had all the world at his fingertips. Ben had that too, but now he had nothing.

Ben punched the wall angrily as Klaus' futile shouts for help were muffled by the cleaning ladies' vacuum. He then looked at Klaus' pitiful figure and felt some disgust bubble up from within himself.

"How come you're the one that gets to be alive?"

 _Manifest_  
Klaus was going to give in. He was going to give up and spend his last day alive under the influence of whatever drug he had stashed away in that unicorn plushie. It was unbelievable. As Klaus bickered with him about his drug usage, Ben felt repulsion once again rise within him. Klaus shoved the pills into his mouth, and Ben's body moved on it's own, smacking Klaus across the face, making the pills fly out of his mouth. Shocked, Ben paused and looked at his hand.

"Did you just-"  


"Yeah."

From then on, Ben and Klaus tried to find a way for Ben to become more corporeal whether that be playing patty-cake or trying to catch random objects. It never really worked, but they were trying. It was possible.

Then, when the house came down around them, Ben felt like he had to do something. With Diego down for the count and Klaus about to be crushed by the celling, Ben desperately tried to grab hold of the two and pull them out of harms way. Miraculously, it worked, and he caught Klaus' surprised expression, but it was no time to celebrate. The three of them got up and ran as fast as they could out of their childhood home.

"Thanks man for saving me back there," Diego said to Klaus.  


"Uh, anytime," Klaus hesitantly responded as he caught Ben's dismayed expression. Without his help, the two of them would've been dead! Ben scoffed as he crossed his arms. He'd have to talk about this with Klaus another day. They had bigger matters at hand.

 _Strike_  
"Actually, it wasn't me that saved Diego. It was Ben." Klaus' admission caught Ben's attention as he was beginning to zone out from his siblings' bickering.

"Enough with the Ben excuse, Klaus. Even if you could see him, there's no way he could've moved you both!" Ben shook his head sadly. Despite Klaus' efforts in the past, he could never truly get his siblings to believe that he could talk to Ben. Ben had tried for so long to get them to notice him, but it never worked out in the end.

"I can prove it to you guys, Ben and I have been practicing! Here, ready Ben?" Klaus picked up a bowling ball and threw it up. Ben moved to catch it and-

It fell. His heart plummeted. His siblings looked at the fallen bowling ball, then at Klaus.

"Look we know it was hard on you, but Ben is gone and our world will be too soon if we don't think of a plan now." Klaus nodded dejectedly.

"It's alright, Klaus." Ben said, "We'll show them next time."

 _Freedom_  
Ben and Klaus ran into the theatre under fire. Chaos was everywhere as bullets ran down from the sky. Ben looked around in horror as his siblings struggled to find safety and take down the soldiers. Suddenly, his body felt heavier. Ben looked around to see Klaus' fists glowing as Ben's body began to take a form that everyone could see. His siblings looked on in shock to see their dead brother moving and fighting amongst them again. Ben pushed down the otherworld's voices and brought out their tentacles, taking down as many soldiers as possible to protect his family.

It was all a blur until they were able to take down Vanya. Standing in a circle with all his siblings, Ben felt whole again. He was able to put his hand on Klaus' shoulder and have his siblings' faces light up in recognition when they looked in his direction. Under Five's powers, the seven of them began to go back in time as their bodies turned younger. Ben felt his body begin to grow heavier and heavier until he felt the need to breath in once more.

He was alive again.

**Author's Note:**

> I was really excited to see how Ben's character would be utilized when I first saw him in the car with Klaus but was quite disappointed with his lack of presence in the show.  
> Ben's otherworld voices come from the fact that he can summon eldritch-like tentacles from his body, which brought me to think of him as a portal between the eldritch and real world.


End file.
